“Concentrate,” Stefan said quietly.

  Gideon did, even closing his eyes to visualize himself dressed as he wanted to be. He jerked at the sensation of his skin suddenly being covered, of his feet encased in comfortably broken-in leather shoes.

  “Awesome!”

  Gideon opened his eyes and grinned as he gave himself a quick once-over. “Yeah, thanks for the tutorial.”

  “Yes, thanks,” Jordan murmured. Gideon peered at him and gave him a thumbs up.

  “Love the white tank and tight jeans, Jo. Shows off your dick really nicely,” Gideon informed him, eyeing that excellent package.

  “That’s why I picked ‘em,” Jordan informed him. “If you got it, flaunt it and all of that.”

  “Right.”

  Stefan scooted back on the bed, a sweet smile curving his lips. “Now, why don’t you both join me?”

  That was trickier. Gideon thought he’d never get himself settled on the mattress, but finally he was able to sit with an arm around Stefan’s shoulders. Jordan was on the other side of Stefan and had one hand resting on Stefan’s thigh.

  Stefan liked the way he fitted between the two men, but even more, he liked the budding camaraderie he sensed developing between him and them. There was already an established relationship of some sort between Jordan and Gideon, obviously, but he wasn’t being excluded. He’d been afraid he’d blown any chance he had with these men after going all silent rather than answering about his death.

  But Stefan had panicked. He didn’t know how to tell them that he used to be different, that his brain had been damaged at birth and he’d been deemed developmentally slow and other similar things all of his living life. What if Gideon and Jordan were as horrified by that as they’d been in those seconds they’d thought he might be younger than he was?

  What if they look at me like I’m damaged still?

  Stefan wouldn’t be able to stand it, so instead he sat between his new friends and explained as much about being a spirit as he could. He answered every question they asked in regards to that subject, and was glad they didn’t bring up his demise again.

  He listened as they shared war stories, appalled by the things mankind did to one another. Gideon and Jordan seemed to have made their peace with it all, but Stefan supposed that was what soldiers had to do in order to cope.

  It was the tales about what they had done other than their duty that really perked Stefan up and gave him the opening he’d been waiting for. “Y’all really have shared guys before?”

  Jordan and Gideon exchanged a glance before Jordan answered, his cheeks holding a faint blush. “Yeah. We each figured out the other one was gay when we got assigned to the same troop. Gideon wasn’t as good at being unobtrusive when he was checking out other men as he’d thought he was.”

  Gideon snorted. “Right, like I didn’t catch you beating off behind the showers one night after Craig walked out wearing one of those tiny towels.”

  Jordan groaned and rubbed at his package. “Come on, man. Craig was fucking hot, and the only reason you caught me was ’cause you were going back there to do the same thing.”

  “Yup,” Gideon agreed.

  “So y’all have been together for a while then?” Stefan asked.

  Both men shook their heads. “Not like that,” Gideon explained. “I mean, we fucked guys, together or singly, but we never messed around ourselves until earlier today. I don’t bottom, and Jordan hasn’t ever tried it, so he don’t know if it’s true or not, but he says he doesn’t like it, either.”

  Stefan hoped he hadn’t flinched when Gideon had brought up bottoming. Stefan wanted to get fucked again, but then he’d start getting scared when he really thought about it. Stupid, because he’d watched enough people to know that anal sex had to feel amazing when done with someone who cared about you. Still, Gideon and Jordan were hung like few men Stefan had seen even in porn videos. He was afraid having either of them fuck him would hurt no matter what.

  “So you’re saying you both like to fuck guys, but you don’t let anyone fuck either of you.” Stefan narrowed his eyes at Jordan then Gideon. “That hardly seems fair if there was ever going to be more than just a one-off with someone else.” His heart pounded as he waited for reactions to his bold statement. Would he run these two off, or were they interested in more than a one-time fuck?

  Gideon and Jordan looked at each other. Gideon finally shrugged. “I just don’t like it. It doesn’t feel good to me, but I suppose, if I were in a relationship with someone and it was important for them to get off like that, I’d do it and try not to be a jerk about it. I’d just hope the guys didn’t want to do it often.”

  “Guys?” Stefan repeated, watching the way Jordan was staring at Gideon.

  Gideon nodded. “Yeah, guys. I don’t just play with Jordan and other men because it’s fun. It’s what turns my crank, having two bodies to touch, to lick.” Gideon arched an eyebrow at Jordan. “Maybe to fuck.”

  Jordan squirmed but he didn’t look away. “I don’t know. It’s dumb, I know it is, but I always topped because I like the control.”

  “Bottoming doesn’t make you weak.” Even Stefan knew that. “Lots of really strong guys—physically strong and personality-wise—love a cock up their ass, as long as it’s with someone they trust. Nothing wrong with it.”

  Jordan looked at Stefan. “So do you bottom, Stefan?”

  Stefan’s heartbeat tripled as he stared into Jordan’s eyes. “Yeah,” he answered breathlessly. “I think I want to.”

  Chapter Eight

  Stefan’s answer caused a strange sensation down in Jordan’s lower anatomy. More specifically, his cock hardened and his own hole clenched. He was suddenly hyper-aware of his ass in a way he hadn’t been before. Gideon traced a line down Jordan’s nape and Jordan shivered.

  “What about you?” Stefan asked as he rubbed his hands over Jordan’s chest. “Are you rethinking the whole not bottoming bit? Your pupils are so dilated…”

  Jordan closed his eyes but opened them again, gasping as his nipples were pinched.

  “Stop hiding,” Stefan commanded, the stern note in his voice surprising Jordan. “Just answer.”

  “Maybe,” Jordan admitted. He was ashamed he’d thought bottoming somehow equaled being weaker. No, he’d used his own fear of letting anyone let that close to him permeate all of his sexual encounters. How many times had he secretly fantasized about having Gideon overpower him and force him to spread his ass open? Rape fantasies, and something Gideon would never do, not if Jordan was fighting him, but it’d been the only way Jordan had been able to accept his own needs. He’d only ever dreamed of it with Gideon, but now, the image of Stefan, nude and hungry, that long, thick dick wet-tipped, was causing a riotous reaction in Jordan’s body.

  “I need to go check on Mom,” Jordan blurted out. Knowing what he wanted and actually trying to get it were two different things. He needed a break. “You two stay here. I’ll be back in a bit.” Jordan shot out of there, trying the techniques Stefan had shared with them once he was out of the house. He practiced diving and stopped, then he did the whole envisioning-where-he-wanted-to-go thing and ended up sitting on his mom’s kitchen table.

  Right in front of her, where she had her head bowed, cradling her face in her hands as she quietly sobbed.

  Jordan forgot about his sex life issues. His eyes burned as he tried to comfort his mother. He reached for her, but hesitated when she raised her head and swiped at her eyes. Did she feel him there, somehow?

  Jordan moved his hand slowly. When he had it hovering on his mom’s shoulder, she closed her eyes and sobbed again. “Jordan.”

  He jerked his hand back, startled. Had that just been coincidence?

  “I don’t know if you’re in heaven or if you’re somewhere still on this Earth, if you’re alone or if Gideon followed you like he tended to do in life.” She cried and Jordan had to touch her again. He willed his hand to have some sort of substance, but every time his mom cried out, it broke his concentration.

  “I never told you about the spirits here in McKinton,” she said after several minutes, when she seemed to have gotten past a large wall of grief. “At first I didn’t believe in them, and I didn’t want you to hear the nonsense about them, either. I couldn’t work them into my spiritual beliefs either, but I’ve seen things in the past years…” She shook her head and smiled. “Things that almost made me wet my pants. The spirits are real, and McKinton has plenty of them. I know it’s selfish of me, but I kind of hope you’re here.”

  Then she cried more, and Jordan focused, really focused, on the tip of his index finger. When his mother gasped and darted her glance all around the room, he knew he hadn’t imagined the warm, soft flesh of her shoulder under his touch.

  “Baby?” she asked, placing her hand where he was touching her. “Are you here? Are you okay? Are you happy?” She leaped up. “Severo!”

  Jordan frowned, but it didn’t take him long to remember the man his mother was now trying to call on the phone. Severo had come to McKinton right before Jordan had headed off to join the Marines. Jordan couldn’t remember when exactly the man had arrived in town—hell, Jordan had been a horny, self-centered kid. He hadn’t paid attention to anyone other than himself at that time. But he did know who Severo was, and the resemblance of Conner’s boyfriend to Severo was uncanny. He couldn’t believe he’d missed it before.

  Then again, he really only had a few memories of ever seeing Severo, and those times that he had seen the man, Severo had been in the company of the town sheriff, Laine Stenley. He didn’t even know if Laine was still alive, if he was the sheriff or not.

  “Thank you, Severo. I’ll have coffee and there’s plenty of food for you and Laine.”

  He supposed that answered his question in regards to Laine. Now that man Jordan had indeed noticed years ago. Laine was tall, stoic, a throwback to the days of Western cowboys who wore badges and kept their town clean with bullets and respect garnered by the residents. Yeah, Jordan remembered him very well. He wondered idly how the man had aged.

  Jordan hovered in the kitchen while his mother got out dishes. She put small containers of sugar and some milk on a tray along with the cups and saucers. Then she went about making up a tray of lunch meats and cheeses, crackers and desserts. Jordan’s mouth watered, but he wasn’t the least bit hungry.

  As his mother worked, she murmured to him almost constantly, filling him in on the town’s events. Laine was still Sheriff, though there was talk that he wanted to retire and take his man off to Hawaii to live. And there were spirits—many of the people of McKinton had ended up having some kind of interaction with them. One spirit seemed to like to put on shows, send papers flying around and around like mini-tornadoes and other such harmless things.

  Jordan was betting on that being Conner, though he couldn’t imagine the guy being playful at that point. Not after Conner had gone all protective on Jordan and Gideon in regards to Stefan.

  And thinking about Stefan caused all kinds of confusing feelings for Jordan. He really liked the kid— No, not a kid. Stefan probably would have been his age or maybe even older had Stefan not died. Jordan wasn’t sure what the rules were with aging and death, or being dead, rather. He supposed he’d find out over time.

  “Honey, it’s just me,” someone called out from the front room.

  Jordan hauled his spiritly ass in there to see Craig Escobar closing the front door. Craig was the guy his mother was dating. Jordan had only got a few letters and emails from his mom about the man before being killed. He’d never met Craig since he’d only moved to McKinton in the past year.

  Craig was short, and not just in comparison to Jordan’s six-two. Jordan put him at five-five tops, which meant Craig was a couple of inches shorter than Jordan’s mom. The guy was attractive enough, though. He had a round face that would keep him looking young forever probably, and distinguished-looking streaks of white in his hair at the temples. His clothes were nicely fitted designer jeans and top, but that was okay. He wasn’t flashy, just well-maintained, Jordan thought.

  And he looked at Jordan’s mom like she was his entire world.

  “Missy,” Craig said almost reverently as he opened his arms to Jordan’s mom.

  She sniffled and moved into his embrace with an ease that bespoke of her own attachment to Craig.

  Jordan wished he’d read those letters and emails more times than he had, that he’d looked for the love his mom obviously felt for Craig there in between the lines. He’d been such an idiot, missing what had to be there in her words. Jordan just hadn’t been able to imagine his mom really with someone, but now he realized that, despite his age, when it came to his mom sometimes he still thought like a child. It was humbling.

  “I’ve asked Severo to come over,” his mother was saying, “and he’s bringing Laine.”

  “That’s nice of them,” Craig murmured, rubbing Missy’s back. “Is there a problem I can help with?”

  She pulled back and swiped at her eyes. “Oh, no. There’s not a problem, I just…” She took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly before moving away to lean on the counter. “Have you heard any stories about McKinton?”

  Craig looked utterly confused. “Besides that it’s one of the places to be in this oil boom?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I mean about the town itself.”

  “I—” Craig closed his mouth and seemed to consider the question seriously before continuing. “I really am not around other people much. I mean, I work, running the business, and I go out to eat at the diner, thank God. Otherwise we might not have met. I’m pretty much a homebody, you know that.”

  “I do, but I thought maybe your employees might have talked,” Missy said.

  “About what?” Craig asked with obvious confusion.

  “Ah.” Missy crossed her arms over her chest and plucked at her sleeves. “Well, see—” She was saved from providing an explanation by a knock on the door. “Let me get that. Could you set the tray on the coffee table, please? Oh, and grab the coffee pot?”

  “Sure, of course.” Craig lifted the tray up while Jordan followed his mother into the living room. As she reached for the door, Jordan felt a frisson of unease spreading inside him. It wasn’t that he sensed something evil, but more that he became aware of someone else sensing him. And he heard a male voice quietly ask in his head, “Jordan?”

  Jordan flailed back as his mother opened the door. She greeted Laine and Severo, then stepped aside, giving Jordan his first look at the men.

  Severo stared right at him with green-gray eyes that seemed to penetrate right into Jordan’s soul.

  Then Severo smiled, and there was such joy in the wide stretch of his lips that Jordan forgot to be freaked out when the man reached for him. He felt an electric tingle where Severo touched his shoulder.

  “Missy.” Severo didn’t say anything else, just nodded, and Jordan’s mom began to cry again. Jordan glared at the man. Severo was sexy for an older guy. He had long, straight black hair, and those eyes were something to write sonnets about. But Severo was watching him, and Jordan didn’t understand how that worked.

  “What’s happening here?” Craig asked from behind him. “Why are you standing there with your hand in the air?”

  Severo tapped his fingers against Jordan’s shoulder then lowered his hands. “Craig, we met at the funeral.”

  “I remember,” Craig said, walking right through Jordan. “What’s going on?”

  Severo looked at Laine, who shrugged and said, “It’s your show, baby.”

  Craig didn’t seem bothered by the two men so Jordan was leaning toward liking the man. He should have known his mom wouldn’t date a bigot.

  “Why don’t we all sit down?” Severo asked as Craig looped an arm around Missy’s waist. “Then we’ll talk.”

  “Certainly.” Craig turned and led Missy to the sofa. Severo looked right at Jordan again. More words seeped into Jordan’s consciousness.

  “I’m going to ask Conner to come here. I don’t know if you’ve met him yet, but he’s able to convince most doubters of the existence of spirits.”

  “How are you doing this?” Jordan finally thought to ask, or asked through thought, rather.

  Severo hitched a shoulder and glanced up at Laine. “I dunno. I just do it. I’ve always been able to speak to the dead.”

  What was he supposed to say to that? Severo gestured and Jordan moved back, blending in with the wall as Laine brushed by him.

  Jordan gawped at the man. He’d thought Laine was handsome years ago, but the years had carved him into a starker, more masculine visage than back then. He was almost fully white-headed now, and his sun-browned skin made him appear to be carved from mesquite wood. Jordan would bet the sheriff was every bit as tough and prickly as a mesquite tree, too. Some of those trees had branches with thorns on them that’d go right through the soles of your shoes. Jordan had got plenty of them stuck in his feet as a kid.

  In the living room, everyone sat in awkward silence for a moment while Craig poured coffee and Missy passed around the snacks. Finally those niceties were out of the way and just in time, too, as Conner popped in. He wasn’t alone, either. Jordan knew he had to be beaming with relief and something very close to joy when Gideon and Stefan popped in, too. He rushed over to join them, and wasn’t surprised when Stefan hugged him fiercely.

  “How sweet,” Conner crooned just before he smacked Jordan on the back of the head, hard. “You hurt him, and I’ll break you.”

  “Same thing he told me,” Gideon muttered. Jordan looked up to see him rubbing the back of his head. “I didn’t know we could get goose eggs.”

  Conner smirked.

  Ro shook his head and pushed back a strand of his black hair. “Yeah, well, Conner’s special like that. He can do things the rest of us mere dead folks can’t. Yet.”

  “Ignore them,” Stefan said as he released Jordan. “Conner is obviously compensating for something.”